Federation Support for School Libraries and Teacher Librarians

I just received my copy of Teaching Librarian which is part of my membership to the Ontario School Library Association. While the publication always has lots of informative articles (this volume had 2 articles by our own M.M. and her son M.M. - no M&M comments please:-)), the topic of my post is in regards to two inserts that were included in the mailing.

The Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario has produced a pamphlet in suppport of teacher-librarians. The pamphlet is available through the ETFO website and is intended as a tool to describe the role of teacher librarians and to help parents evaluate their child's school library. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation developed their own monograph about the state of secondary school libraries in Ontario. It is called Education Watch: School Libraries and was published in January of last year.

Why were they included? I think that they are a reminder to all of us that our provincial federations are starting to hear our pleas for support. That our federations are realizing that it doesn't make sense to cut school library funding at a time when all students must be literate to survive in today's society. At a local level, with contract talks approaching quickly, it doesn't hurt to remind our local representatives that school libraries cannot be forgotten during these talks. Download these support documents and make copies or call the federation for copies. Distribute them to your local federation reps and ask that they include libraries in contract talks. Put them into your parent council mailbox. Share them with your administration.

Be active and advocate.